>> good morning to you. i am ainsley earhardt. >> i am heather nauert. it is tuesday september the 18th. thank you for watching fox and friends first. fox news alert. overnight a homicide bombing killing people in afghanistan. >> this as anti-american violence continues to escalate across the mideast. the u.s. is suspending controls with afghan police after a spike in insider attacks and connor

powell is live for us from afghanistan with the latest. >> just a few hours ago a mini bus killed at least 9 foreigners and several south africans and wounded many more including afghans sitting there waiting to go to work taking the bus to start their day. an off chute of the taliban has claimed responsibility. most shockingly they say the suicide bomber was a 22-year-old girl. that is a rare thing in afghanistan. i can only remember wheone or t cases when it was a young women. they say it was a response to the anti islamic film that is causing chaos around the world. nato announced insider attacks

where they turn their guns on their partners. this does undermine the strategy where the u.s. is meant to be training and mentoring afghan security forces. already this year 51 u.s. and international troops have been killed by afghan security partners. u.s. commanders are fond of saying it was a shoulder to shoulder operation fighting the taliban together. it is more of an arms link operation. there's so much distrust between the afghan security forces and the community it is undermining the effort. froess continue from the anti islamic film. we have small and violent protests in kabul and pakistan in islamabad all saw rather large and violent protests. we saw a large one in beirut where hezbollah came out and

protest the anti islamic film. froess continue. >> escalating center lines there. >> the white house is claiming the attacks in libya were spontaneous. some say there were definite warnings. >> kelly wright is covering this angle for us. he's live in washington with more. >> according to reports we are getting from fox news our national intelligence correspondent goes on to report there are two-ways to the assault what has been relayed to the intelligence source is in the first wave the attackers were heard to say we got him. speaking of the ambassadors. the second wave went after the motorcade and support personnel. the head of the house intelligence committee who publicly stated it was a premedicated attack explained this was going on. on the attack in benghazi u.s.

officials say there was a small demonstration during the day of the attack. at the time of impact during which took place on the u.s. embassy. during that attack stevens and three other americans were killed. they continue to raise more questions about what steps the obama administration could have taken to make the area more secure. the attack is an indication that proper steps may not have been taken to keep the benghazi area clear. >> the big talker this morning is what does former national security advisor to president bush is talking about. steven hadley sitting down with greta van susteren to give his thoughts on where he thinks the murders were spontaneous or pre-med kate -- pre-meditated. >> probably some of both. i think one of the things that is clear is give us an -- it was

an opportunity. it was an opportunity taken advantage of extremist groups to demonstrate against the united states and do more than just demonstrate against the united states because they are anti-americans, but also it was an opportunity tofor them to pu pressure on more moderate governments in terms of their spectrum of which they are not a part to put pressure on them to force a war against the united states and undermine the government because it knows the governments are cooperating with the united states because the united states is important for those governments to achieve a better life for the people. the longer this goes the more we find out about it the better the chance that at least some of these instances al qaeda was active as well. i don't know that. my hunch is when people show up to demonstrations with anti tank weapons with rpg's this is not a spontaneous up rising. this is some people who were

taking advantage of opportunity to kill americans. >> hadley telling van susteren he thinks the middle east is in a melt down and policies seem to be frozen. >> it is time for the top 5 at 5:00. those are the top stories making news at this hour. a 7th day out of school for 350,000 chicago students. >> the chicago teacher's union meets this afternoon to consider a deal that has been reached by negotiators and the school district. that deal could end the strike. the parents are quickly losing patience. >> i am frustrated for the kids. they need to be in school and parents need to work. >> teachers revolting against sleepi sweeping education reforms

including teacher evaluations. chicago teaches are some of the heist paid in the country making around 75,000 dollars a year. >> kids can't go to school parents can't go to work. >> the teen accused in a chicago bomb plot now delayed until thursday his attorneys asking for more time to review the case. he is accused of trying to set off a bomb outside of a bar in downtown chicago. the bomb turned out to be a fake as part of a sting by the fbi. the lawyers calling the charges suspicious suggesting federal agents lured the teen into the plot. in court documents prosecutors said the teen was given several chances to walk away. a french judge ruled today on prince william's and kate's request to stop the topless photos from being published once again. the pictures appeared in a french magazine called closure. it showed up in an irish magazine and italian magazine. the royal couple's lawyer says

it is a grotesque invasion of privacy. they are asking the court the equivalent 13,000 dollars a day if they ignore that junction and 130,000 if the photos are sold. >> the family of the border patrol agent killed in fast and furious honoring their loved one today. agent perry's mothers and sisters expected to attend a border patrol station. the family has been raising money in his honor. three people have been arrested in the case. the acting world mourning the loss of a long time soap opera star. >> it is very nice to have children in the house again here. ask away. >> john ingle starred as edward quartermain for two decades.

he filmed his last episode filmed last month. he passed away with his family by his side after a battle with cancer. he also was in other shows including cheers and dallas. ingle was 84 years old. that is your top 5@5:00. we are keeping an eye on a big storm this morning. tell us about that. >> we had a big storm that will be impacting parts of new england northeast down to mid atlantic. there's a large area that has to deal with flooding range also severe weather risk. i want to show you what is behind that system. 44 minneapolis, 49 in rapid city. a strong cold front behind it. we are seeing the cooler temperatures move on this from canada. otherwise we will be seeing temperatures in the 70s across new york city and portions of the carolinas and relatively

cool bay as well in atlanta georgia high of 75 because of a frontal system. storms from portions of north carolina up state new york and southern vermont large hail damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes will be possible in this area. we need to stay alert today if any warnings are in our county. there is a flash flood concern across parts of west virginia and northern portions of huntsville, alabama, knoxville you are out of the warning area but you can get heavy downpours that could produce localized flooding in a short amount of time with so many thunderstorms. if all of that wasn't enough we are talking about strong winds as we head into later today and the overnight hours and earl wlins across portions of new england, new york city, down into philadelphia as well with wind gusts that can reach 50 miles per hour as the storm system passes by. as had he head into tomorrow

later today it will be quiet once again. >> so a quick storm. it is now 10 minutes after the hour. first they printed more money now the federal reserve is claiming if they were more confident about the economic policies then there would be more jobs. are you behind that one? we will break it down for you. >> you are allowed to have friends to watch football. why is one familiar flaying hundreds of dollars in fines for having friends over to pray. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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>> ghouled mornin good morning.

it is quarter past the hour. here's what you missed. olympian shaun white spending time behind bars. he was drunk when he pulled a fire alarm at a hotel in nashville saturday morning. he also reportedly slammed into a guest who was trying to stop him from fleeing. he was hospitalized after hitting his head and raised for vandalism. classes pick up again today at louisiana state university after a recent bomb scare forced a campus wide evacuation. thousands of students allowed back in their dorms last night. this has been the 4th bomb threat to a college campus in just a week. >> now stories you can bank on this morning. confidence is key. research from the federal reserve claims it can help americans find work. here to explain is lauren simonetti from the fox business network. >> a pair of researchers say the u.s. unemployment rate would be 7 percent instead of 8 percent

it consumers were less doubtful they would be inclined to spend more money. consumer doubt has never been greater than right now. the fed has been able to lower interest rates. you can't right now can you? >> delays are upper form man's is down. >> in july tarmac is up on time is down. 28 planes stuck on the ground at u.s. airports for more than 3 hours that at the height of the summer travel season. 18 of those planes were operated u.s. carriers. flights also left on time in july. 2500 complaints were logged about double the number that we saw last year. the iphone 5 record sales. >> looks like iphone 5 may be

the apple of apple's eye. 2 million sales in 24-hours this past friday when it became available for preorder on-line. it is selling at double the clip of the iphone 4 s. demand running ahead of supply. consumers are going to have to wait until next month to get their hands on the new phone. >> i always thought people should wait until the kinks are worked out. >> we are already talking about iphone 6 so it continues. >> thanks so much lauren. good to see you this morning. it is 17 after the top of the hour. complete strangers rush to the rescue of 8 drowning children. >> i started yelling they are drowning, they are drowning. i went out and we just sort of formed a chain. >> how they pulled off that amazing rescue in a matter of seconds. >> he was sentenced to death for killing a man 30 years ago. this death row inmate says he is too fat to be executed.

as we head to a break a quick look at the price at the pump national average $3.86 a gallon.

>> 21 after the hour. there may be fewer protestors but that doesn't mean there were fewer rayses. 182 people raised today at occupy wall street protests. occupiers blocked the entrance

to the new york stock exchange. yesterday was the one year anniversary of the occupy movement. iconic wrestler jerry lawler than released from a montreal high school. the 63-year-old suffered a heart attack last week on monday night raw and had to undergo heart surgery. he is expected to return home to f memphis in the next few days. the fed is launching a new round of stimulus in order to help boost the economy it is known as qe 3 and the question is this the key to end the crisis. with us now is vera givens. the government is spending 4 g billion a month. who knows how long they are buying mortgage ba backed securities. but it means the they are stimulating money. >> the idea is to flood the economy with money and get businesses and borrowers

spending again. it is what prompted the fed to launch another round. >> this is going to serve to increase the debt, right? >> yes. there is growing controversy over what it will do over the long-term. something needs to be done. we have been at 8 percent in the unemployment front way too long. the fed needs to jump in. >> it could increase inflation. >> it is better than deflation which is a serious concern. >> positive side it could serve to help homeowners. >> interest rates the fed commit to do keeping interest rates nice and low. they could go lower than it currently is. it could make people do a refy secondary fy switch from a 30 year to 15 year. low interest rates could spur activity which could help with the recovery. it is not about low interest rates. people aren't buying for other reasons. >> i feel like we keep hearing this the housing market is going to get better.

>> the only thing that will repel the housing line further is the employment picture. that will improve people have to have jobs and it will go at a much faster pace. >> is it going to do anything for the unemployment factor? >> will it help the employment situation? bernacki will argue we got a couple million jobs over the last round. the employment picture would be a change in policy. countries are not hiring not because of interest rates they are hiring because to see what happe happens. there is a lot of uncertainty out there. >> some are asking if the move on the part of ben bernanke on the and the fed was to give the economy a boost ahead of the election? >> clearly something had to be done. there are people saying that has to be done. he wants to make a name for himself. we needed something tock do be . >> unemployment still an issue.

vera gibbons our personal finance expert. you can sound extra smart at a cocktail party qe. >> like a robot. 24 after the hour. thanks heather. coming up you are allowed to have friends over to watch football. why is one florida family facing hundreds of dollars in fines for having froefrndz to pray. there's a new addition to the kardashian family. nothing to do with courtney's little baby. we will explain. flush ♪ why not get buried in something other than work? get two times the points on travel,

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why not start the weekend before the week ends? get two times the points on dining in restaurants with chase sapphire preferred. >> welcome back to "fox & friends first". it is half past the hour. >> a fox news alert 9 people killed by a homicide bombing near an airport in afghanistan. >> the u.s. is taking a drastic step that is suspending patrols with afghan police in order to try to stop attacks against our troops there. connor powell joins us live with more on this. this is a significant move. good morning, connor.

>> good morning. well the taliban are claiming responsibility for this attack in kabul. it is actually a group that has been negotiating with the u.s. government here about peace negotiations. but they say a 22-year-old girl ran her car pull of explosive noose a mini bus killing and injuring many. this is an odd attack. typically it is men who are the suicide bombers. i can only remember one or two times when a female was involved in a suicide blast in afghanistan. it signals the end of the peace negotiations. the u.s. military announced a shocking move they are limiting joint operations between u.s. and international troops with afghan troops because of the growing insider threat where afghan security forces are turning their weapons on u.s. and afghan personnel.

51 to be killed by afghan partners. in the past afghans an the international community stand shoulder to shoulder in afghanistan. this new policy puts them at arm's length. there is a lot of suspicion between the two groups and it is undermining the overall strategy of building up the afghan security forces. across the wider muslim world protests continue here in kabul we had violent riots yesterday. small but violent. a shower in karachi we saw violent protests and of course in beirut yesterday we had a thousand people protest the anti islamic film that caused so many problems in the last week, ladies. >> connor thank you so much. >> this turmoil in the middle east is the big talker this morning. >> bill o'reilly and brit hume talking about how it could impact the presidential election. britt saying this is now an opportunity for mitt romney to show exactly where he stands. listen to this.

i think it depends on how long this up riding in the milled east, this wave of violence in the middle east continues. if it dies out things get quickly forgotten the new cycle is accelerated and it may pass into the past. it also depends on some extent on how much the issue the romney campaign wants to make of it. >> don't you think you have to go to town on it. let's look at what happened. he made one statement last week proved highly controversial political terms not at all successful although probably more successful with the public than the media which doesn't like him anyway. the question is he going to follow it up? is he going to make a major speech. >> would you if you were him? would you follow it up? >> bill, i think for a man challenging a sitting president you have to pass a couple of tests. surely one of them is foreign policy authority the ability to

converse on foreign policy. something happens in the world murder of ambassador wave of violence in the middle east. we need to hear at romney perhaps in some length about what his over all view of this is. >> how should romney do that? britt went on if he was governor romney he would give a major speech or hold a press conference. backs here at home republican romney and the president sparring. >> he stand by his comments. doug luzader is live in washington with the latest on this video. >> mitt romney doesn't apologize but he tried to explain when he meant when he told donors nearly half of the country has become dependent on the government and probably won't support them. he called a press conference after the liberal magazine mother jones posted on the web site a video of romney at a private fundraiser reportedly

back in may. in it he speaks of president obama's supporters saying quote there are 47 percent who are with him who are dependent on government who believes the government has a responsibility to care for them. last night romney said his remarks may not have been elegant but he largely stuck by his word. >> there is a different approach of the two different campaigns. as i point out i recognize that along those that pay no tax approximately 47 percent of americans i am not likely to be highly successful with the message of lowering taxes that's not attractive to those who don't pay income taxes as it is to those who do. likewise those who are reliant on government are not as ail tracted to my message of slimming down the size of government. >> the obama campaign seized on the video saying this it is hard to serve as president for all americans when you disdainfully written off half of the nation.

romney says he was speaking off-the-cuff at the fundraiser and he's havicanning the entire video be released for a full context. >> thank you, doug. >> time for your 5@5:30. two american citizens imprisoned in the country of gambia have been released and they are coming home. jesse jackson meeting with the president yesterday in negotiating for their freedom. the two gambian american citizens were convicted of treason while working in the country. one of the americans had begun serving a life sentence while the other had served five years of his 20-year sentence. he was in studio b talking about bringing the americans home. >> when i did come i put them on the list and i did. their release has been granted. we leave here with the two americans tomorrow and have them back to their families in the state by wednesday morning. jackson also convinced the

gambian president to indefinitely extend a moratorium on 37 death row prisoners saving their lives. a terrifying flight in new york city. after the jets are escort to do an isolated runway shortly after the planes landed. passengers given little reason as they waited more than 40 minutes for something to happen. even the pilot was kept in the dark. >> we are surrounded by emergency vehicles there's a reason for this. somebody has to give us the reason or we are going to evacuate the aircraft. you have 60 seconds. >> image how nervous they were. anonymous caller called to say the bombs and hijackers were on board the flight. the fbi and boaport authority boarded the planes and found nothing. a tragedy diverted thanks to a heroic family. the group was visiting on a lake

when they heard screams for help. 8 children went into the water and they were pulled under because they couldn't swim. >> i started yelling they are drowning, they are drowning. and so i went out and we just sort of formed a chain. i had tripped over a couple of them so i was trying to get down and i brought one up. i think there were angels there yesterday. that's the only way i can explain it. >> thank goodness the adults were there. the children ranged from ages 6 to 13 were taken to the hospital. all 8 of them expected to be okay. >> thank goodness. a convicted killer is asking to have his january execution delayed. because he says he's too obese. ohio inmate ronald post weighs 480 pounds because of that he may have a lingering and torturous death. he was convicted of shooting and killing a hotel clerk almost 30 years ago. he also said the geurney may

break. >> a family fighting scity officials threatened with a fine for holding bible studys in his house. he is seen giving an on-line sermon and wife are facing $250 a day fine for holding these bible studies in their home florida. officials say the gathering that see as many as 10 people violating zoning codes. and those are your 5@5:30. >> oo before you leave your house let's check in with maria molina to see what's going on. yesterday the south got a lot of rain what's going on today? >> good morning everyone. we saw heavy rains across portions of the south. that is associated with a strong storm system. the storm is moving eastbound and also northbound. areas like new england mid atlantic down to parts of the

southeast will have to deal with the storm system as it is bringing in heavy rain and even strong wind across parts of the northeast. we are talking about wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. that will be blowing over to umbrellas and also possibly tree branchs. we have reports of your weather with damaging winds with some of the storms and isolated tornadoes. that risk does include rale leigh north carolina to portions of new york city philadelphia in that area dc, baltimore also large hail with some of the storms possible. if you get any warnings issued for your county right now we have heavy rain coming down across parts of tennessee, west virginia and even moving into portions of pennsylvania localized flooding will be possible. thank you maria. it is time to entertain this. the new judges for american idol getting ready to work. mariah carey.

nicky manaj and randy jackson held auditions in new york city. a first look at blake laif lee's bling. ryan reynolds putting a big ring on the ak dorr's finger. look at this cute little face? could it be the newest cardi kardashian. she is troin duesing her adorable new kitten named mercy on twitter. she has been seen walking on the streets of miami with a tea cup persian. >> walking around with her kitty cat? a roundup of all of the sports stories making news at this hour. monday night miss cues for payton manning. the denver bronco quarterback through interceptions giving them an advantage. manning rallies late but not early enough 27-21. linebacker jonathan bilma in

manhattan in connection with the scandal. it says that he put a 10,000 dollar bounty on vikings quarterback brett favre. he denies the charges. vilma and tlae other players have had their suspensions temporarily lifted in connection to the pay to injure scandal. jeremy lin is still sleeping on touches. ly lin asking him to crash on his couch. furniture is being delivered. lin slept on the couch of teammate. save a few bucks, too. it is 41 after the hour. the murder of four americans not a planned terrorist attack. new reports might tell a different story. cia covert operations mike baker is weighing in coming up next. >> an out of control motorcycle slamming into a pole and

bursting into a ball of flames. look at that right there. how did that driver of that motorcycle manage to walk away. we will explain. .

>> ambassador rice in her comments on every network over the weekend was very clear, very precise about what our initial assessment of what happened is. this was not just her assessment it was also an assessment you heard in comments coming from the intelligence community in comments coming from the white house. >> some intelligence agencies say they were warned. they warned the u.s. of potential violence in egypt. ask our former cia overt operations ambassador of global

intelligence and security firm mike baker. thank you for being with us. was it spontaneous or pre-meditated pre-meditated? >> it was pre-meditated. the idea that this just happened the whole thing came together at the spur of the moment it defies explanation, it defies logic. you look at the patterns of fire and the weaponry. there's lots of weapons on the street. i think what they are doing is politically motivated trying to die flekt attention from the strategic point of view the muslim world and the notion that somehow they missed something missed an intel report. i don't think that's an issue. a year ago they should have provided a secure facility in ghazi. that's the state department's responsible. the reason why you have two months before an election they are desperate to not have it

reflect poorly on obama's foreign policy. >> there is plenty of evidence to say this is pre-meditated the white house is saying it is spontaneous. why would they do that? >> you look and talk to people that are far smarter than i am in terms of politics there does not seem to be any other point here. there's a political spin going on. you look at what we are dealing with. it's a war zone. it's still a war zone. benghazi for years providing a vast majority of the foreign fighters heading into iraq and afghanistan. the fact that it was from 9-11 itself that al-zawahri came out exhorting all of his followers to commemorate the anniversary of 9-11. you look at the fact that they picked this target the consulate

in benghazi because it was a soft target. the state department has a responsibility to says the risk they did not do that they should have provided a secure facility. a variety of things. build a new site. do it a year ago you look at the attackers and the way they pattern that attack the pattern of fire was accurate they knew where the safe house was. >> destroy the safe house where the ambassador would have gone. >> they have sources they recruited inside this facility. that's not a difficult thing to do. >> why wouldn't the u.s. secure that area? >> that is part of the problem. that's why i think the administration in a very coordinated aggressive effort

says we had no control over this, what were we supposed to do. >> i don't think we should send americans over there in my opinion. appreciate you being here. >> still ahead this is one way to respond if you don't like the question. what did this reporter say to this little guy that made him so upset. >> a new report claims thousands of americans are collecting social security disability where they aren't even eligible. diane macedo breaks it down next. let's check in with brian kilmeade to see what's coming up on "fox & friends". >> in 11 minutes we are talking about mitt romney caught on tape about comments. what jimmy carter had to do with it. the administration is sticking to the story attacks were spontaneous. nobody else believes in that. donald rumsfeld will be here with his opinion on the up

risings. wade simmons the cia guy with a grand n-- brand new book and laura ingram. i am wearing this. find out what gretchen is wearing. hopefully not the same thing. it will throw everybody off. s

>> a federal program to for the anthrax attack is running 6 years late. it is also $3.7 billion over projected costs. documents obtained by government accountability office auditors shows that analysts did not fully explore costs and counted on technology that doesn't even exist. and bad weather causes another delay for the final flight of space shuttle

endeavor. the shuttle was scheduled to ride on the back of a 747 to california yesterday and has been postponed until today. nasa says it won't take off until tomorrow. >> i would love to see that on the back of a 747. >> research shows the government may have spent millions and millions of your tax dollars in order to hand out social security disability checks to people who didn't even qualify for the program. fox business network diane macedo takes a look at this. diane, how on earth did something like this happen? >> a new set of reports shows social security administration is properly awarding disability benefits in more than 25 percent of cases examined between 2006 and 2010 potentially costing taxpayers billions. the finding includes an 18 month investigation. they show in roughly a quarter of the 300 randomly selected cases judges awarded benefits without properly addressing

insufficient contradictory and incomplete evidence. each questionable decision will cost big tax payer money here. according to one estimate the average lifetime disability award is 100,000 dollars. tom covert who led the investigations said it found social security disability insurance and supplemental insurance company program are teetering on financial bankruptcy. the agency added 5.9 million americans to the roles since january 2009. and 10.6 million people were receiving 128 billion in disability payments. he shuttings benefits may be going to people who aren't suppose to do get them saying the purpose of the program are saying all americans have a safety net. it should remember this law means being unable to work any job in the national economy. social security administration

weapon told foxnews.com quote we share the subcommittee's concern a small amount of judges have failed the expectation. he has made substantial progress since most of it is decided. i don't know if they get a gold star for that but they are working. >> the key word being able to work any job in this economy. an out of control motorcycle slams into a pole and bursts into flames. how did the driver manage to walk away from that? >> can you figure out what our word of the day is? >> that's an easy one. >> stick around for the answer.

>> one minute to the top of the hour. looking at the good, bad and ugly. first the good, happy homecoming. a st. bernard happy to see her owner